Trip of a lifetime.....Disney Christmas, Birthday, Food * BIG & final update!

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Glad to see you're back, have been following your trip report all along! I've stayed at 2 of the onsite hotels - Disneyland Hotel in 2007 and Grand Californian almost a year ago. There were lots of nice Disney touches at the DLH (which has since been renovated so it's different to when we were there), but we were surprised at the length of the walk to the parks - was ok the first couple of days but seemed longer and longer as our stay went on (especially the afternoon my husband went back to the hotel early, and both kids were too tired to walk, so I had to push the 6 year old in the stroller while carrying the 3 year old!)

Grand Californian was beautiful, especially the lobby (I wish my house looked like that), the short walk was fantastic, and we were upgraded to a park view room which was excellent, but you're right, it's not very Disney-ish. Also the rooms are not very big.

We're trying the Paradise Pier for our September trip - the rooms are apparently a bit bigger which is a bonus as there are now 5 of us, and we can cut through the GCH lobby to save time walking to the parks and also to give me my GCH fix. And it's cheaper obviously which is a bonus.

Hi and thanks so much for sticking with me!

I mean what I say when I will be upholding me new years resolution!!! I have been wanting to get the report finished and now seemed like the perfect time as I have some time off work!

Thanks for the info re the hotels. I have read lots of peoples tips about getting the entertainment book for Orange County as the savings on the Disney hotels are quite good. I have been and checked it out for myself, and it turns out they are right!!! I am going to get the book delivered to the Ho Jo and it will be waiting for us when we get there! It has some good savings for other accommodation too!

It's just a matter of where I decide to stay. I did love the breakfast at the Paradise Pier and this was the one that the DD mentioed she would like to stay at of we ever went back. I don't really mind as just to stay there for a few nights will be super!

I will be updating again this evening with my ad another very, very special birthday post!!!

Take care

 

[miss.potatohead]

The DH and the DD......ponchos and all!!!

All the way to America and look what we found!!!

We had a laugh when we saw this sign on our trip (or possibly one of the other Australian animal ones)

Range 'Australia and Tasmania' - poor Tasmania obviously is separate to Australia Great update

 

[AussieDisneyNut]

Welcome back! Look forward to reading the rest of your TR, have really enjoyed it so far. I just wish we had another trip to plan , so I will just have to live vicariously through yours!

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Welcome back! Look forward to reading the rest of your TR, have really enjoyed it so far. I just wish we had another trip to plan , so I will just have to live vicariously through yours!

Feel free to live vicariously as much as you like!

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

We had a laugh when we saw this sign on our trip (or possibly one of the other Australian animal ones)

Range 'Australia and Tasmania' - poor Tasmania obviously is separate to Australia Great update

Oh yes, Tasmania part of Australia......who would have thought!!!!

Next thing you know we will need a passport to visit Hobart as it will be leaving the "country"!!!!!

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Hi everyone!

So, we recovered from being water logged at the zoo and had the next couple of days just out and about.

Back to DCA we went to catch up on some things we had missed. One of those things was the Aladdin show. We left it a bit late to join the queue and we ended up with seats towards the back. This didn't worry us too much as we could still see clearly and got a birds eye view when the elephants came out had a great view of the flying magic carpet.

We had heard so much about this show, and we like others, loved it, especially the very comical Genie!

Here are some of the best shots I have of the show.

Before the curtain opened and without using the zoom.

The Entrance to the Cave of Wonders

The guy who was working Iago was so good you almost forgot the bird was actually a puppet!!!

Happily ever after.....awwwww

The rest of the day we just wandered around at our own pace, rode Tower of Terror and Monsters Inc a couple more times, and just basically enjoyed the atmosphere.

In line for Toy Story. This was DH's fave so we did stand in line for quite a few hours over the length of the trip to ride. we never did beat his score either! It really could do with a Fastpass!

Oh, and of course there were snacks throughout the day!!!

The parks were getting quite busy at this stage as it was only 3 days to Christmas.......................and you know what that means........tomorrow is my Birthday

The following day I wanted to go shopping, so we went across the road and caught a shuttle bus to a big outlet mall called Soth Coast Plaza.It was about a 45 minute journey as we did stop at a few other hotels to pick up passengers. It was very big and had loads of up market stores like Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo, Armani etc. It did have a Macy's though, so I was happy!

This is me before we left for the day.
***Note the Christmas tree! I was not going to stay away from home without one, so I bought one at Walmart when we arrived in Anaheim that lit up. We bought some decorations to hang up and some to put on the tree which we brought home and have added to our Christmas collection! ( more on that subject to follow!!! ) I donated the tree itself to the Ho Jo!!!

DD having breakfast with her new favourite food!!!!

The mall was all decorated for Christmas and of course had a super big Christmas tree.

The tree really was massive and was under the most gorgeous stained glass window in the ceiling.

We bought DD a Winnie the Pooh balloon from this big bunch!

All up, we did have a great day out, but I probably wouldn't rush back as it was just a little expensive for my taste!

Tomorrow however was to be all about me

Big Birthday Bonanza to follow!!!!!



Take Care

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

I must admit, today was just one of those days you wake up with a smile already on your face!
I had been waiting for so very long for today,and it was finally here. Today was my Birthday and I was about to celebrate it with the 2 people in this big wide world that mean more to me than you can imagine AND I was going to be spending the day in the most wondeful place in the world.......DISNEYLAND!!!!

So, to start off with, there was a very special present that DD and DH had organised for me. There was one thing in particular that I had been talking about buying since I had seen it over 12 months before. When I was presented with the present to open, my heart really did skip a beat..........and this is what was in that parcel.........

The Dooney & Bourke Minnie Mouse bag that I had so desperately wanted.....how lucky was I!!!!!!

Off to the park we went as we had a Birthday breakfast to attend with a very special mouse!!! I already had my birthday button to wear from a very nice cast member we had been chatting to when we first arrived. We were at the ticket window outside the park just to ask a quick question and we got chatting to the CM and she provided us with all our buttons then and there! She really was just wonderful and saved us a lot of time as we didn't have to keep going to get buttons for special occasions!
I was wearing my birthday shirt that had been especially designed just for me by one of the wonderfully talented Disigners here on the boards. Thanks to Linda ( shadowryter ) I had the most amazing shirt to wear and boy did I get loads of comments ( and chuckles!!! ) throughout the day! Along with a picture of Minnie it actually has my name and the date with the comment "It took 43 years to look this good!!!"

We were seated straight away and had to get the customary pic taken by the Disney photographer as we entered. I was a little bit disappointed it did not include Minnie herself, but we made up for that when we got inside.

Here is the pic and the folder it was contained in!

Front cover

Inside

And our photo!

And of course we had fantastic character interaction which is just what you want on your special day!!!

DD and Max

Dancing with Tigger!

Those chipmunks really are everywhere, and you know what, we were glad they were!!!

With Rafiki

The Captain was just too funny and he spent loads of time hamming it up with us!!!

I just had to have a balloon too!!!

And of course, the reason I was there!!!!!

After we had finished with breakfast, it was up to me what we did for the time we did not have things already planned! We were booked to do the Holiday Tour later in the afternoon, so we made our way to the Haunted Mansion of course!!!

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon having such a good time and on our travels we ran into this royal member!!!

Now there was a funny incident happen here! We had our pic taken with her and she pointed to me and said "You there, I have a job for you! You shall be the last to have their picture taken today, so if there are any more people arrive, you must shoo them away!"
So as it happens, another family arrived on the scene and I very politely told them that the queen would not be doing any more photos today. Well, she scolded me immediatley for being too nice and told me to do my job properly! So, all in good fun, I got quite serious and told them to "shoo"!!!!!
The family were great as they got involved looking all sad and shocked!!! The queen then promptly said to me "Oh, your'e good! I think I will hire you"!!!

She then proceded to tell DH and I how to have a better time when we next visited Disneyland by pointing to DD and saying "Leave THAT behind!"
And with a swish of her cape she disappeared into the castle!!!!! It really was a great bit of Disney magic!

We rode a few more rides and snapped pics as we went!

Making a wish

Snow Whites Grotto

I love this area and it is especially pretty at night.

Teacups and Alice in Wonderland were next!

Don't go away..................More birthday celebrations up next.................!!!!

 

[zanzibar138]

So glad you decided to finish your TR I was so disappointed when it stopped! Now that you're here again I will continue stalking

We're planning our next Disney trip too - HK Disneyland as part of our honeymoon

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Too funny about the queen!

 

[LizfromOz]

Thanks for updating Sue, I am loving reading all about your adventures! I am busy planning our 2nd trip of a lifetime, lol, as well in September this year. Can't wait to see and do eveything we missed in 2009 and of course all of the new stuff.

I'm looking forward to reading more.......

Liz

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Ok, so it was still a little while until we had to our booking for our Holiday Tour, so the more rides we could get in the better!

The Storybook Land boats line was the smallest we had seen it for quite a while, so we jumped in the queue. This was the one and only time we rode this for the whole trip. I actually wouldn't have minded going on again, just to capture some more pics. Here are the ones I managed to snap on the way around!

You could say we had a "whale" of a time!!!!

It is very well done and so much attention to detail for all th beloved Disney stories, this one from the Little Mermaid.

We ended up on the train and happened to get off at Main Street just as the parade was coming down the road. A very nice American lady offered to take apic of us!

A couple of pics from the parade in the day time

So it was time to go and get lined up to do our Holiday tour of Disneyland . Our tour guides name was Eddie and he was very knowledgable. He carried a candle which he held up so we could follow along. We were all given headsets to wear so we could hear what he was saying. Now I must admit, this was one of the best things we did.
We found out about all the traditions and the behind the scenes things that go on in the park over the holiday period. We got special entries into Haunted Mansion Holiday and It's A Small World. We also all rode the train and sang Christmas carols on the way. BUT, the best part, THE very best part, was the VIP seating right out the front of Small World where we got to sit and watch the night time parade. We were fortunate enough to get front row which was just amazing. The tour also included fudge tasting whilst on main Street and we were all given some more special treats when we got to our seats to watch the parade..........a gingerbread man, a hot chocolate in our very own take home mug, and a wonderful collectable pin.

Here are just some of the pics from the parade.....

DD enjoying her hot chocolate!

The gingerbread man

And our wonderful tour guide

Front and back of our mugs!

And our pin!

Now I was feeling quite wonderful as I had so many wonderful moments and special memories made throughout the day, but there was just one more very important stop we had to make............

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Good Morning (here)! What a fun birthday celebration! I just saw storybookland for the first time a couple of years ago. It is a nice little break - you got some really great pics!

I love the Christmas parade at DL! Hot chocolate and gingerbread men while watching all that Christmas go by - what could be better?

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Good Morning (here)! What a fun birthday celebration! I just saw storybookland for the first time a couple of years ago. It is a nice little break - you got some really great pics!

I love the Christmas parade at DL! Hot chocolate and gingerbread men while watching all that Christmas go by - what could be better?

Hi Tammie and good morning to you too ( well it is here now!!! )

I was really pleased with most of the pics I took and I am sure some could be evn better with a touch up!

The parade was just marvellous and now that we have done the Holiday tour and hd the most magical experience, I would not not hesitate to do it again.

And, yes I did get somewhat spoilt on my birthday and it aint over yet!!!!!

 

[princesszelda]

cant wait for more! Love your report and all the pics.

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Thanks for updating Sue, I am loving reading all about your adventures! I am busy planning our 2nd trip of a lifetime, lol, as well in September this year. Can't wait to see and do eveything we missed in 2009 and of course all of the new stuff.

I'm looking forward to reading more.......

Liz

Hi there Liz and I am so glad you are enjoying the report!

Seems like we will both be planning for a magical end to 2012!!! It won't take long to get around to September as the time just seems to fly these days! We don't leave until the very end of October,so have a little bit longer to wait but it sure will be worth it!

Are you doing a pre trip report by any chance? I am going to start one as soon as I have completed this trip report. I just love doing the report and it makes it so much more fun and exciting to share it with other Disney folk

Take care

Sue

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

cant wait for more! Love your report and all the pics.

Thank you so much for coming along and I am glad you are enjoying the report!

Lots more pics to come!!!

Take care

Sue

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

So glad you decided to finish your TR I was so disappointed when it stopped! Now that you're here again I will continue stalking

We're planning our next Disney trip too - HK Disneyland as part of our honeymoon

Feel free to continue stalking!!!

Wow, Hong Kong Disneyland for your honeymoon sounds just so wonderful! The new Toy Story land that has just opened there looks fantastic so you will have to take lots of pics to share with us!

 

[zanzibar138]

Feel free to continue stalking!!!

Wow, Hong Kong Disneyland for your honeymoon sounds just so wonderful! The new Toy Story land that has just opened there looks fantastic so you will have to take lots of pics to share with us!

Oh yes, there will be many many pics and a detailed TR... I've struggled to find much info for HK Disneyland so I intend to do my part for future HK travellers

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Oh yes, there will be many many pics and a detailed TR... I've struggled to find much info for HK Disneyland so I intend to do my part for future HK travellers

And I will be one of your first subscribers!!!

 

[Shelby Disney]

Wow, what a fantastic TR, and insight into your fabulous holiday Minnie Sue, it has been great fun reading all your exciting adventures, and seeing all your photos, which I might say are quite impressive! Love the food porn!

I can't wait till we head over to the old US of A for our holiday!
It would appear I still have much to learn before we go!

Cheers, Shelley